Battery cap



y 1955 H. R. GALLOWAY 2,708,214

BATTERY CAP Filed May 24, 1954 I NV EN TOR fier'berf Gal/away ATTORNEYUnited States Patent 6 iiATTERY CAP Herbert R. Galloway, St. Paul, Minn,assignor to Minnesota Plastics Corporation, Ramsey viounty, MIDIL, acorporation of ilflinnesota Application May 24, 1954, Serial No. 431,964

11 Claims. (Cl. 136-177) This invention relates to an improvement inbattery caps and in the method of assembling the same and dealsparticularly with the type of cap used on wet cell batteries.

Wet cell batteries are normally provided with filling caps which must beprovided with vents extending therethrough. Some diificulty has beenexperienced in caps of this type if the vents extend directly throughthe caps, as the movement of the battery has a tendency to splash liquidthrough the vent openings. in order to avoid this ditficulty, caps haverecently been made of plastic which are hollow in nature and includespaced bottom and top walls. These walls are provided with vent openingswhich are offset in position so that the battery fluid cannot splashdirectly from the caps. This construction requires the molding of thecaps in two parts and in assembling the parts. The present inventiondeals with a cap construction which can be easily assembled and whichhas other structural advantages.

An object of the present invention resides in the provision of a hollowbattery cap which is formed including a body portion and a top portion.The body portion is formed with encircling side walls and a closedbottom. The top portion comprises a top closure provided with a shankprojecting downwardly therefrom. This shank terminates in a pair ofspaced arms having hooked shaped ends, these ends being designed toextend through an aperture in the bottom closure of the cap. As aresult, in assembling the cap, it is only necessary to insert this shankof the top portion through the opening in the body portion of the cap,and forcing the top part downwardly until the hooked ends are extendedthrough the aperture whereupon the natural resilience of the materialcauses the hooked ends to engage the nndersurface of the bottom closureto hold the two parts assembled.

A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a batterycap having a top closure portion which is formed of material possessingsome resilience. The cap includes a shank which terminates in spacedarms which may be resiliently urged toward one another. Thus, ininserting the shank onto the aperture, the arms are flexed toward oneanother until they pass through the aperture, whereupon they may spreadapart to hold the two parts assembled.

An added feature of the present invention resides in the provision of abattery cap having a body portion provided with angularly spacedabutments against which the top closure may engage. If preferred, theseangularly spaced abutments may comprise a substantially continuousshoulder. These abutments, or shoulders, engage against the undersurfaceof the top closure as this portion of the cap is assembled, therebylimiting the inward or downward movement of the top closure. When thetop closure is against the abutment, the hook ends of the resilient armsare in engagement with the undersurface of the bottom closure, thusholding the two parts assembled.

A feature of the present invention resides in the pro- "ice vision ofdiametrically opposed passages through the top closure on opposite sidesof the body and in providing the resilient arms inwardly of thesepassages. As a result, any liquid which is splashed into the cap fromthe movement of the battery cannot pass directly through the openings inthe top of the capas this liquid is deflected by the arms.

These advantages, together with other objects, and novel features, ofthe present invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in thefollowing specification and claims.

In the drawings forming a part of the specification:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a battery cap showing thestructure in assembled form.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the cap shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view through the assembled cap showing therelationship of the parts therein.

Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the top portion of the capshowing the arrangement of parts therein.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the top portion of the cap.

Figure 6 is a sectional view through the body of the cap.

Figure 7 is a top plan view through the cap, also with the top portionthereof removed.

The cap is indicated in general by the letter A. This cap is formed oftwo main parts, one of which is best illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 ofthe drawings, and which is identified in general by the numeral 11. Theother of the parts is illustrated best in Figures 4 and 5 of thedrawings and is indicated in general by the numeral 11.

The body portion 19 includes a generally vertical cylindrical sleeve 12which is connected at its lower extremity to a ring-shaped flange 13.This flange 13 preferably extends both inwardly and outwardly from thesleeve 12 and is designed to act as a stop shoulder for the cap as it isthreaded into the battery. The sleeve 12 is provided with a series ofangularly spaced vertical ribs 14 thereupon which project outwardly fromthe sleeve 12 so that the sleeve may be easily grasped and turned.

As is also indicated in Figures 2 and 6 of the drawings the sleeve 12 isprovided wtih a series of angularly spaced ribs 15 which extendvertically and which terminate short of the upper extremity of thesleeve 12. These ribs 15 act as abutments against which the top portionof the cap may engage as will be later described in detail.

A sleeve 16 projects downwardly from the flange 13 along the inner edgethereof. This sleeve 16 is externally threaded as indicated at 17 sothat it may be threaded into the top of the battery. At the lower end ofthe sleeve 16, a disc-like bottom closure 19 is provided. This bottomclosure 19 is provided with a central aperture 20 which in theparticular form of construction illustrated is rectangular in shape.

With reference now to Figures 4 and 5 of the drawings, it will be notedthat the top portion 11 is provided with a disc-like closure 21 which isgenerally circular in shape. Two notches are formed on diametricallyopposite sides of the disc 21 by lines 22 which are shown extendingalong chords of the periphery of the disc 21. The length of these chords22 is substantially equal to the distance between the internal ribs 15as best illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings so that the disc 21 isfirmly supported by the ribs 15.

As best indicated in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings, a shank 23 isprovided integral with the disc 21 and projecting downwardly therefrom,preferably at the center thereof. This shank 23 is shown constructed ofa pair of generally parallel arms 24 and 25 which are connected by acentral connecting web 28. As is indicated in the forming an effectivevent.

drawings, the web 28 does not extend the full length of the arms 2 and25 but terminates at a point spaced from the lower ends thereof. As aresult, the arms 24 and 25 may flex within the lastic limits of thematerial of which the arms are formed. At their lower ends, the arms 24and 25 are provided with outwardly projecting flanges 26 add 27 whichare rounded or beveled along their undersgrface so that they may beforced through the opening 2 in the body portion of the cap. The uppersurfaces of the flanges 2'7 are preferably on a common plane so thatonce the arms have been inserted through the opening 20, they cannot bereadily retracted.

The assembly of the cap A is believed obvious from the foregoingdescription. The body portion 16 and the top portion 13. are assembledby merely inserting the shank 23 of the top portion into the sleeve 12of the bottom or body portion, the lower ends 26 and 27 of the arms 24and 25 engaging the bottom closure 19 on opposite sides of the opening2% and the rounded or tapered shape of these arms acting to flex thearms inwardly. Downward pressure upon the shank causes the flanges asand 27 to pass entirely through the opening 29. The shank is soproportioned that when the marginal edges of the disc 21 engage theupper ends of the ribs 15, the flanges 26 and 27 will have passedthrough the opening 28 and will engage the undersurface of the bottomclosure 1?. Obviously, as soon as the flanges 26 and 27 have passedthrough the opening 2% the arms spread apart and cause the uppersurfaces of these flanges to engage the bottom closure 19.

it will be noted from the drawings that the notches formed by the lines22 are outwardly of the arms 24 and 25. Accordingly, any liquid which issplashed upwardly from the battery cannot be splashed through thenotches as they are protected by the arms. In other words, any liquidsplashed into the interior of the cap must enter the cap atsubstantially right angles to the notches thus it .will be also notedthat as the arms 24 and 25 are spaced apart on each side thereof, thereare in reality two openings, or passages, from the interior ofthe'battery into the interior of the cap and both of these passagescannot well be bridged over by liquid. Actually, the fact that thesharlt extends through the opening, has a tendency to drain the liquidwithin the cap downwardly along the shank to drip back into the batteryfrom the lower end of the shank,

it will be noted that an effective seal is provided without the use ofcement or without the requirement of heat sealing. Accordingly, the costof assembling the two parts of the hollow cap may be substantiallyreduced without affecting the quality of the cap.

in accordance with the patent statutes, the principles of constructionand operation of the battery cap have been described and while it hasbeen endeavored to set forth the best embodiments thereof, it is desiredto have it understood that obvious changes may be made within the scopeof the following claims without departing from the spirit of the presentinvention.

l claim:

1. A battery cap including a hollow body formed of two separate members,one of which is threaded to fit into a battery opening, one of saidmembers having a bottom closure, and the other said member including atop closure, means limiting movement of said bottom closure to said topclosure, and resilient means on the member including the top closure,the bottom closure having an op ning through which said resilient meansis engageable to hold said members from separation.

2. A battery cap including a hollow body having peripheral walls, a topclosure and a bottom closure, said body being formed of two members,said top closure 'being integral with one of said members and the bottomclosure forming a part of the other of said members, said body havingexternal threads designed to extend into a battery opening, one of saidclosures having resilient means thereon and the other of said closureshaving an aperture therein through which said resilient means extends tohold said closures in properly spacedrelation.

3. A battery cap including a cap body having peripheral walls, a topclosure, and a bottom closure, external threads on said walls designedto extend into a battery, said body being formed of two separablemembers, one of said members having a shank including a pair of spacedresilient arms thereupon and the other of said closure having anaperture therethrough, through which said resilient arms may engage,said one closure having an aperture therethrough, offset from the firstnamed aperture.

4. A battery cap including a body having an encircling wall, a topclosure, and a bottom closure, external three. on said walls engageableinto a battery, the botn: closure having an aperture therethrough, and ashank on the top closure, said shank having a pair of spaced resilientarms thereupon, said resilient arm having hooked ends thereupon, saidhooked ends engaging through said aperture and holding said closure fromseparation.

5.. The construction described in claim 4 and in which the upper closurehas a passage therethrough offset from the aperture in said bottomclosure.

6. A battery cap including a body portion having a sleeve, threadedsleeve secured to first mentioned sleeve, and engageable into a battery,and a bottom closure upon said second sleeve, a top closure, and a shankon said top closure extending through said bottom closure, said bottomclosure having an aperture therethrough, through which said shankextends, and resilient means on said shank for holding said shankengaged with said bottom closure.

7. The COl'lSil ction described in claim 1 and includrneans for limitingmovement of said closures toward one another.

8. A battery cap including a body portion having external threadsdesigned to extend into a battery, a bottom closure on said body portionhaving an aperture therethrough, a disc-like top closure, a shank onsaid top closure extending downwardly therefrom, and resillent means onsaid shank extending through said aperture and securing said top closurefrom separation from said bottom closure.

'9. The construction described in claim 8 and includ ing passage meansin top closure offset from said aperture.

10. The construction described in claim 8 and in which said resilientmeans comprises a pair of resilient arms, having hooked ends.

11. A battery cap including a body portion having external threadsdesigned to extend into a battery, a bottom closure on said body portionhaving an aperture therein, a top closure disc, means for limitingmovement of said top closure disc toward said bottom closure, a shanksecured to said top closure and extending toward said bottom closure anda pair of spaced resilient arms on said shank extending through saidaperture and said bottom closure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES lATENTS1,363,645 Gould Dec. 28, 1920 1,736,115 Ford Nov. 19, 1929 1,997,911.Wallace et al May 9, 1933 1,996,843 Van Meter, d. Apr. 9, l935

